To think wearing a helmet should be compulsory?

[benfoldsfive]

Incident This morning sparked a debate with my dh. my ds is in year 2 (so 6/7 years old). His class mate Road into the play ground on his bmx, pulled a skid, clipping my pram in the process and went over the handle bars. Narrowly missing the corner of the wall. His mum was no where to be found so I dusted him off and told the teacher what happened. His mother arrived about 5 min after incident and was told by teacher that riding a bike on school grounds is prohibited by the school. mother then says " you have to tell him because he won't Listen to me". Am I being unreasonable in thinking that helmets for any age sound be compulsory? Dh brought up making it compulsory enhances nanny state measures and I compared it to wearing a seat belt. Aibu?

Wearing a helmet is intuitive to me, though I read that the research isn't conclusive. A real problem is enforcement - why have a law that isn't enforceable in effect?

Helmets should definitely be compulsory. I see so many kids cycling round our area without them, it's sad. I read an article about a teenager who sustained severe head injuries in a crash after refusing to wear a helmet because he didn't want to mess up his hair! Maybe if it was compulsory he would have reconsidered.

Majorgrinch irrespective of how cyclists ride (and there are two major studies of the risk paradigm with difference conclusions), the undeniable fact is that fewer deaths and serious head injuries occur when a helmet is worn. The statistics show that any increased risks taken are offset by the protection a helmet affords. Do you seriously believe that we should not be encouraging people to wear helmets?

If you believe it's a matter of choice and its the compulsion you're objecting to, do you believe the same about seatbelts in cars, mandatory speed limits or smoking in the workplace?

Umm...teenager agreeing to mess up his hair because some boring old fart says he needs to wear a helmet..just in case...ooooh I think I know his answer to that conundrum. Unfortunately.

But he clearly wasn't thinking through the potential safety consequences so maybe if he could have seen more immediate consequences, like him or his parents receiving a fine or ticket if he didn't wear a helmet, then he would've considered wearing one.

I think teenage thinking commonly is more 'resilient' to logic than that.

Cyclists safety overall relies on them riding assertively and defensively, whether it's avec or sans a helmet. That argument is a very peripheral one overall re cyclists safety.

The point is that there is history of helmet wearing being normal. Increasing use means they seem less dorky and the chances of a teen not wearing one to avoid messing his hair less. I remember feeling it was embarrassing to put a seatbelt on in the back of a car, but it's now normal and injury rates have fallen in response. Without legal compulsion, there will be a core of those who don't think it's necessary and fail to set an example.

If you believe it's a matter of choice and its the compulsion you're objecting to, do you believe the same about seatbelts in cars, mandatory speed limits or smoking in the workplace?

You may have missed the bit where I said that I wear a helmet for longer rides so have no problem with them when required, but to answer you fully -

No problems with seatbelts in cars - you're statistically better off in a car full stop, the seat belt helps that. A cyclist that gets hit by a bus, lorry or car moving at speed will be lucky to survive whether they have a helmet on or not TBH. The point is, helmets increased the survival rate of some (not all) people that hit their head in the accident, for those that were ground to a pulp by a bus or rammed into an lamp post at 40mph they made no difference at all.

In other cases the helmet has actually made things worse by getting caught under the vehicle & dragging the cyclist along. It also causes the head to hit at a more damaging angle than it otherwise would.

Glad smoking has stopped in the workplace - but that's only due to the smell.

I've been commuting 100 miles a day to work on a motorbike for over 10 years, I wear a helmet. Mainly to keep flies out of my face & to allow me to see over 69mph. It restricts my vision and hearing hugely.

It might help if I have a low speed spill in London, but I know full well that if I come off on the motorway I'm going to be ripped in half by the central reservation or run over by at least 3 cars. It's the law to wear it, but it doesn't actually increase my safety any more to do so.

What increases my safety is being aware of the conditions, what is around me and what is coming up - it could be argued that if all drivers had the same awareness there would be less accidents overall.

Road Safety is the issue. Maybe compulsory training before being allowed to cycle (good luck with that one)? Maybe increased emphasis on cyclists in the driving test? I'm not convinced that wearing a one shot piece of polystyrene on your head actually makes the blindest bit of difference and I'm not alone in that.

I can find just as many anti-helmet arguments as you can pro...

Risksense

Times 7 Cycling Myths

I think that adults should be allowed to make their own decisions about what to wear on a non-licenced, non-powered form of transport that has no sales restrictions on it.

When I was growing up I fell off a horse and landed on my head/helmet. I fractured my shoulder so I hate to think what would have happened without the helmet.

My kids wear helmets or dont have access to their bikes.

Ideally, kids should have helmets as they are at more risk of minor scuffs and scrapes as their heads are heavier, and they have more silly 'accidents' on a bike.

But, that's about all the protection they give, they will not save you from a life endangering impact, didn't help Michael Schumacher when skiing, and those helmets are stornger.

Very keen cyclist here, and I do wear one, mainly for temperature control (expensive well vented helmet) and also if I come off, it saves gravel rash to the scalp, which isn't nice as the skin isn't very thick.

It won't save you if you get run over by an idiot in a car.

In the OP's case, if the kid had come into contact with the corner of a wall, I doubt the helmet would have done much - especially the cheap crap that most people buy which isn't properly tested.

Oh, and as for teens cycling. Erm not many do it, they are too lazy. My lad is the only one that cycles into his high school of 800 kids !

And as for teenage 'girls' wearing a helmet - ha !

Totally agree children should be made to wear helmets, in fact everyone should have to wear a helmet. My DH was hit by a car and his helmet didn't look great after the incident, I hate to think what would have happened to him if he wasn't wearing one.

My DD knows the rules, she is not allowed on anything with wheels without a helmet, that includes her scooter. It comes naturally to her now, even wears a helmet in the garden when biking about.

We are going to California soon. We are keen skaters and we are staying somewhere with terrific long distance skating paths literally just outside our front door. But I'm not taking our skates.

Okay, so admittedly, transporting 4 sets of skates is transAtlantic IS a challenge in itself. But transporting the 3 helmets intact & undamaged is nearly as challenging. In CA,it's compulsory for kids under 14yo to wear helmets if in on any wheeled vehicle (that includes little push along cars, push along trikes, bicycles, scooters). There are special exemptions for proper baby buggies & inside cars. (There is almost no rational logic why those exemptions exist, of course.)

So that's how 4 people were put off & prevented because of the legal obligation to wear helmets.

I think people should be made to wear helmets to walk down the street.

Actually countries with compulsory helmet laws, without any exception at all, are incredibly hostile places to ride bikes. Conversely the places with a culture of bike-riding have the lowest rate of helmet wearing.

Helmet compulsion is deadly.

Yes I agree op I saw people doing cycle training with a local school and I was socked to see mother the trainers or the children were wearing helmets i was so socked I phoned the council to complain

Surly if children are staring ther cycling life with no helmet were doomed

I agree that making a helmet compulsory is a terrible idea. I haven't worn one for probably twenty years. I lived in a cycling city until ten years ago. Hardly anyone there wears a helmet, but other road users are more used to looking out for them and giving them extra room so it is genuinely safer than other places.

I have read lots of evidence for and against helmet use, and choose not to. DH has read the same evidence, and chooses to - but he spent far less time in a bike-friendly city, and had a car then anyway.

I believe that a poorly-fitting helmet is more dangerous than no helmet, so no I don't wear one and don't make the DC either.

guy at work fell off his bike for no reason this morning and cracked his helmet in half (no giggling). He'd be dead right now if he hadn't been wearing one....but then that should be his decision!
No kid can cycle without falling occasionally but probably not at such speeds. Kids can't be trusted to make the right decision though so...

Only compulsory for riding on the road under the age of 16/18. Done

YABU

I think there is some evidence to suggest that helmet wearing makes people complacent in terms of how the ride/drive around cyclists and for this reason I don't think they should be make compulsory.

But in your example the child should not have been riding in the playground and his mothers response was a bit rubbish.

under 18s have to wear them where i live. Seems quite sensible to me.

YABU . Obesity is a far greater risk to public health and I for one would remain on my sofa eating digestives rather than go out on a bike wearing a helmet.

Yes, I could get behind compulsory under 18, or on roads rated over 30mph.

"guy at work fell off his bike for no reason this morning and cracked his helmet in half (no giggling). He'd be dead right now if he hadn't been wearing one...."

That's a bit of an assertion.

Why should this cause such a debate?. Is wearing a helmet such a big deal?
Research shows the following: Wearing a helmet reduces the risk of head injury by 63% (95% confidence interval 34% to 80%) and of loss of consciousness by 86% (62% to 95%).

I ride a road bike and wouldn't dream of going out without a helmet, children should be made accustomed to wearing helmets at an early age and I do believe they should be compulsory for road & trail cycling. If you start them young, then it's just second nature and it may save their life, what's the problem? It's a 'no brainer' Surely!

It took laws to make motorcyclists wear helmets, and car drivers to wear seatbelts. Now we accept them as quite normal and many lives have been saved. It's time cyclists' helmets were also compulsory.